The easiest viral campaign ever

If you don’t, check it out–it allows you to schedule your social media shares so you can engage your audience consistently. I highly recommend it.

Recently, Buffer introduced content suggestions. When Buffer users don’t know what to share, they can check this list for inspiration.

As a content creator, getting on the list of recommendations seems like heaven. How many people would see your post? How many tweets and likes would you be able to get?

Recently, I found the “secret” to getting on the list of suggested content:

Choose 5 blog posts that are proven to be popular with your audience

Make sure your posts have attention-grabbing headlines–check out Buffer’s guide to writing headlines

Complete this not-much-advertised form to ask the Buffer team to feature your blog posts. (Note: This form has now been taken off line, and as far as I know there’s no other option to submit your suggestions to Buffer besides networking with their awesome team.)

Most of them are simply looking for content to share. Because sharing good content makes them look good. Reading a headline and glancing at the first paragraph give them enough indication whether content is shareable or not.

But as a serious business blogger, you don’t want casual traffic. You want people to read content. You want them to become loyal readers. To become fans.

Still, considering I only spent 20 minutes filling in a form, this has been a pretty good result, and I’m grateful to the Buffer team for this opportunity.

A highly-converting social media campaign

Blog visitors are often passersby.

Window shoppers, who might never come back.

To win serious business with your blog, you need to build a relationship with readers. You have to tempt them to come back again and again. You have to turn them into email subscribers, regular readers, fans.

Time required: Est. 12 hours (because I spent half a day drawing the opening slide—perhaps not good from a productivity point of view, but hugely enjoyable)

This post has far fewer social shares than the 61-point checklist mentioned above. 73 tweets, compared to 507.

But does it matter?

Not really.

This presentation generated 351 subscribers to my snackable course–an opportunity for me to build relationships, perhaps sell a book, or even a blogging course.

Why the huge difference in conversion rates?

People who clicked through from SlideShare to my site, had viewed my whole presentation. On slide 69, they found a call to action to sign up to my snackable course. These people engaged with my content. They read it. They appreciated it. They weren’t just looking for a quick share.

The web is full of testosterone

We all get distracted by big numbers.

By vanity metrics.

But stats like views, visitors, comments, and social shares don’t really matter.

Want more proof?

Have a look at Marcus Sheridan’s River Pools and Spas blog. Each post generates only a few social media shares, and a handful of comments.

Reader Interactions

Comments

Hi Hennekke, First I would like to mention that I read your blog before sharing it. And being a writer myself I really wanted to know how to make my write-ups lead generators too. Thanks for the elucidation. 🙂

I was curious when I read the preview to this post. I was actually thinking to myself, has she changed her viewpoint on this viral stuff? Am I now going to get yet another blueprint on the subject?

I am glad to see, that’s not the case. Great points you have shared here and like Marcus, I too don’t give two hoots about viral content. I am more focused on relationship building. The value in viral content for me is miniscule, borderline non existent. Gazillion of window shoppers and less than 5 leads?

I have since unsubscribed from all the sites that preach this viral gospel. Waste of oxygen.

Now, I was gobsmacked at the Slideshare results, that’s brilliant. Slideshare is one of those dark horses you never pay much attention to.

I’m not sure whether it was a fluke or whether the success can be repeated. I did pick a topic and a format (before/after examples) that I knew would be popular with Enchanting Marketing readers. That probably helped.

Very neat article, Henneke! The Buffer-trick sounded smart (well, it is, I guess – just not for everything and everyone), but it didn’t get me excited – whereas reading about your SlideShare presentation did get me excited! (And I’m happy I can at least use exclamation marks in comments 😉 SideShare might very well be a medium I’d consider using. And I’d definitely find inspiration in your slides: fun, easy to read and with very specific, practical advice. Do you have any tips for when you use SlideShare inn stead of writing a blog post? Does it depend on the audience, the content… (both, I guess, but I’d love to hear your experience). Cheers, Stine

I’m not a SlideShare expert, as I’ve only done two so far. The first one was a self-guided version of a talk at a marketing conference here in the UK.

For the 17 Copywriting Do’s and Don’ts presentation, I selected a topic and format (with simple examples) that had proven itself already as a blog post (not exactly the same). Creating a presentation title is like writing a headline for a blog post – numbers are always popular.

Also, I used the phrase “copywriting do’s and don’ts” as I thought it was another opportunity to rank. Interestingly, both the SlideShare and my blog post rank well in Google.

What’s different with blog writing, is that you need to write even tighter for a SlideShare presentation. Each word counts. I included only one sentence per slide. So each sentence has to communicate a nugget of information. It’s like writing almost exclusively in sound bites.

People often say it’s about visuals, and sure, your presentation has to look good, but the visuals are secondary to the words – the words have to tell a story or share your lessons.

The audience of SlideShare is, I believe, mainly B2B – probably quite similar to LinkedIn.

Wow! Thank you for the Buffer link. Not only did support respond very fast, but their verbiage is very upbeat.(in fact a little syrupy, as in corporate mandate) I so appreciate the value if your content. The two case studies were terrific.

Henneke! so right about testosterone numbers as though that is what produces business. Once had a business considered top in a large city. Then did the numbers. Only 400 people over 10 years consistently used my services. Goal was simply to do the very best for the people who came in the door, and work hard to solve their problems. Its not how many people know you, its how many respect you enough to pay you and tell others about good work.

You’re Slideshare presentation was very good. It was a fresh and engaging way to view your content and kept me clicking until the end.

Also, I love your cartoons. Yeah, a half a day working on your opening slide may not seem like the most productive use of your time. But you enjoyed drawing it. And our work has to include some enjoyment or we’ll burn out.

I think that your cartoons have become an important part of your brand identity. And that’s not a waste of time in my opinion.

Yep, I agree. I sometimes get angry with myself, as I think I should be more productive. But productivity is perhaps overrated.

I diligently measure time I spend time on client projects, but I don’t want to do it for my own blog posts, because I want to enjoy it and allow some time for freewheeling and experimenting 🙂

I started learning how to draw cartoons over a year ago when I joined the Da Vinci cartoon drawing course. It’s an online course: http://www.psychotactics.com/davinci/ (oops, looks like the cost has gone up quite a lot). I agree, the drawings have become part of my brand identity.

Ah! I meant to ask you this the other day. I’ve had a look at the Da Vinci course. Looks interesting and yes I’m so glad that you took a chance with that first illustration. You capture the humour and nuances very well in them. Loved the post as usua.

What a useful article! So many things I didn’t know- thanks for sharing. I find it extremely down to earth the point you make about vanity. Whats the point of followers and likes? If we are not creating any value, what’s the point of being online? Thanks so much for the remark, it’s a thought provoking statement.

Yep, agreed. Direct profit isn’t always easy to measure. It’s easy for Software-as-a-Service companies or e-commerce, but much harder for freelance services. So the closest to profit is usually email subscribers.

Thank you for stopping by, Steve. What happened to your Gravatar? Or did you never have one?

I only use Buffer for Twitter, as I don’t have a Facebook account. How it works, is that I read a series of blog posts in the morning, and the blog posts I like to share I “buffer”. By buffering them, they’ll go out at the times I’ve specified. So rather than sending 5 tweets in one go, they’re scheduled via Buffer to go out during the day.

Buffer can only do this if you allow them access to your Twitter account. Without access, they can’t schedule tweets. The same applies to Facebook shares (if you connect your Facebook account).

I fully agree that we have to be careful with privacy and not authorize any random company to access our Twitter or Facebook accounts.

I’ve not had any problems with Buffer, and I know many people who use them. They seem pretty secure (but I’m certainly not a security expert!).

Doing the SlideShare was part restlessness (wanting to try something new) and part thinking about “if I do this, how can I generate email subscribers without pissing people off”. I would never do pop-ups for instance. I try to find a balance.

And you did a very smart campaign last year where you teamed up with a few people to offer a series of Webinars. 🙂

Yep, unfortunately, the Buffer trick only works for content in English.

You might want to try a SlideShare – I’m not sure how many Dutch people are on SlideShare, but as LinkedIn is popular in the Netherlands, a SlideShare presentation can be useful – you can also feature it on your LinkedIn profile and include it in a blog post of course. So even if it doesn’t gain traction on SlideShare, you still use it to promote your business.

The difference between SlideShare traffic and others (Twitter, StumbleUpon, etc) is quite amazing. As you know, I’ve had success with SlideShare since discovering it three weeks ago. The traffic it’s brought to Be A Better Blogger has been ENGAGED traffic.

On the flip side, I’ve had two different posts go somewhat viral on StumbleUpon. Those visitors didn’t subscribe and didn’t even leave comments. They visited, gave a thumb’s up, and left four seconds later.

Give me 500 targeted SlideShare visitors over 5,000 StumbleUpon visitors any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Yes, a great blog post. And yes, very helpful. But I figured I’d read a few of the comments and then add a little something, but the comments just kept going and going—with one very distinct difference to just about every other blog on planet earth dedicated to copywriting…

Henneke responded to every single comment! Cordially and professionally.

Referring to “3. Complete this not-much-advertised form to ask the Buffer team to feature your blog posts”

I was trying to use the URL link (https://buffer.wufoo.com/forms/z14ivbm3160dzmz/) to the Buffer content submission form, but they display an error message that the page could not be found. Do you happen to know if they have the taken this option off service or renewed their link?

Oh no! You’re right. It looks like the form has been taken offline. I searched for it like I’ve done before, but I can’t find it anywhere – not among the Wufoo forms of Buffer and not on the Buffer blogs either.

Networking with the Buffer team is probably the only way to get in the list of recommendations 🙁

Thank you for letting me know, Andrea. I’ll update the post and take out the link.

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About Henneke

I never saw myself as a writer, but in my early forties, I learned how to write and discovered the joy of writing. Now, I’d like to empower you to find your voice, share your ideas and inspire your audience.Learn how I can help you